In short – Jeff was a life-saver. He made my ipod wedding work better than most of the DJed events I’ve gone to. What a great vendor to work with, seriously, above and beyond the call of duty. He offers a variety of services – we used the sound system and also paid him to stay for the night to monitor the music, laptop, sound, and do general announcements (or, in our case, show our BP how to do the announcements). He offered to do anything that we would need, such s advice on organization of music, and willingness to shuffle around the songs during the wedding. That’s right – we had extra songs in case some were flops he’d switch them out. No worries about crowd dying because songs they don’t like are in queue.
At the end of the night people were still having a good time dancing, so we wanted to extend the party a little bit (a couple of songs). We conveyed this to him and he had no problem. The caterers came up to him and said he needed to shut down because they needed the table clothes and whatnot. He refused, he said “I’ll stop playing when the bride and groom tell me to stop.” No hesitation. Love it. Another vendor who really seems to love what he does and care about his clients.

Monique and her assistant did the hair of my bridal party, mother, grandmother and a couple of close friends. They arrived promptly and moved quickly. They were actually able to throw my grandmother’s hair in last minute (she changed her mind and wanted it done). I absolutely loved my hair and make-up – she nailed the look I was going for, it looked perfect.

Our cupcakes for our wedding were so tasty, I swear I drool every time I think about them. The price couldn’t be beat, my understanding is that there were no issues with delivery, and they were absolutely delicious!!! I highly recommend the champagne flavor! This is really a no frills shop that delivers a high quality product.

Matt was a really great person to have around on the day of the wedding. It was really important to me to have vendors who I was comfortable with, and he falls into this category for sure. Every one of my guests loved him. This may seem unimportant, but think that people will take better pictures if they are comfortable with the photographer (e.g., they will smile for real, not fake smile). He is so genuine and you can tell he loves what he does, and he seems to just really enjoy people. We were absolutely blown away by the final product. Our pictures turned out amazing. I would highly recommend Matt to anyone getting married.

They upgraded us to an excursion from a stretch limo – this is why they get the “highly.” I’m so glad they did, because things would have been tight otherwise. The driver, Mike was awesome as well. Quiet and did his job perfectly. No complaints about this company.

We loved the dance lessons that we took with Szewai. At first we were a little bit nervous, having to show our lack of skills in front of someone else, but she put us right at ease. She helped us pick the song that we would dance best to, and worked within our level to teach us the steps. Only once we were comfortable with a certain series of steps would she move on to another series of steps – making the dance more exciting. What made lessons with her so great was the way she provided feedback. Never did we feel silly or ashamed – Szewai has a talent for providing feedback in a non-accusatory way – almost as if she just wants to try something new. I think this is important when dealing with men ☺
At the wedding our dance was a hit! We have received so many compliments on it. We did a slow dance, we learned the foxy, and she threw in some extra steps that wowed the crowd. She also helped us with our entrance and presentation. Nothing was neglected, and it made our first dance really special.

A New Leaf exceeded my expectations in the floral department, especially my bouquet. When we met with her I was very specific in elements, texture, colors – things like that. I did not give her a pictures and say “I want this.” (I think this was important - to give the style I was looking for and let her take over and make the best she could). She really blew me away. She captured the exact look that I wanted, I actually teared up when I saw my bouquet. She was super easy to work with, and got everything correct in our order. The reception centerpieces were also amazing. We had three different types – one was the typical one for A New Leaf (submerged orchids), and then I had two different types – some for the highboys and some for a few of the cabaret tables. Again, I didn’t give her an exact look, just a feeling. She nailed it – it was beautiful. I actually found the prices on the florals here to be quite reasonable (my bouquet was only $100, and most of my centerpieces only cost about $25 a piece). They get you with the other elements – the large centerpiece in the center of the room, and lighting the candles. These are quite pricey, but add an element that can’t really be compromised with the site. BUT…I knew this when I signed with them, so I can’t really hold it against them.

Ashley was great to work with throughout the whole process of wedding planning. She was very responsive and very calm (this was very helpful to me). She knew what she was doing, knew our space, and most importantly knew how to pull off the cocktail style dinner thing we were going for. This style was the most important thing for both of us – we didn’t want a stuffy wedding, and we also didn’t want people to have to wait in line for food. The design of our event was a little different, and this is mainly why we choose FFT, because they had experience in throwing parties that focused on passed small plates. Ashley’s skills were apparent – she didn’t try and oversell items to me (I was very nervous about there not being enough food, but she kept insisting that there was enough) and she was very patient with my indecisiveness. She stuck to our timeline like clockwork as well! This made Aaron very happy, as our party progressed at the pace we wanted it to. I really don’t think I could have worked better with another coordinator – as far as service she would get a highly recommend. The guests also raved abut the presentation of the food. This was my biggest concern, doing a tapas style wedding, that the guests wouldn’t “get it.” On paper they didn’t, but were impressed and loved the style once they were there. I truly believe this couldn’t have been done well without FFT – Ashley knew what she was doing.
The report on the food (since I didn’t eat much of it myself) was that is was great to amazing. I didn’t see the cocktail spread, but she saved us a small sample plate of appetizers. The presentation of the other items was just what I wanted – artsy fartsy ☺ Some of the portions were a bit smaller than at our tasting, but none of our guests knew that. I did hear that the service was impeccable – that if someone asked for a dish, the waiter would return promptly with whatever was requested. The food I tasted (which wasn’t very much – too busy running around) was very good. We received compliments on the food from guests, specifically the lamb chops and the mac and cheese. The steak was also cooked perfectly (considering there is no kitchen at a new leaf).
Couple of little things – we had asked for bar stools, but they never got added to the proposal (so we had a about 4 guests that “parked” at a highboy that were left standing). There was seating outside, but mostly smokers went out there. Also, the only last minute expense we got hit with was coffee service. It hadn’t been included in our original proposal, and added a few hundred dollars to our bill (Renting that crap is expensive). We had told Ashley that we planned on ended at 10:30, but may stay later in case the party was still going (we had the space until 12) – so in the proposal she put a ? next to the time. At 10:30 (Ashley was obviously gone by this time) the staff started breaking things down and cleaning up. They told the DJ to stop playing (Which he wouldn’t – review on him below). Aaron finally had to go and talk to them and straighten things out (basically threatened to cancel their check). We only stayed an extra 15 minutes, but it was the point of the matter – we wanted to hear a couple of songs more. Again, these are small things, nothing that really put a dent in our evening.